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Problem solving in chemical kinetics poses substantial challenges for university students since it often involves significant use of mathematics as a tool and language, with challenging translations and transitions between chemical phenomena and mathematical representations. In this paper, we present key findings from a study investigating chemistry students solving tasks centred around the steady-state approximation. Building upon the mathematical modelling cycle (MMC), qualitative analysis of the data collected using a think-aloud protocol led to the development of the extended MMC. This empirically derived extended MMC offers a more detailed account of the processes involved in mathematical modelling of chemical phenomena, highlighting aspects such as the occurrence of deliberation and evaluation throughout the modelling cycle, as well as the varying characteristics, points of activation and roles of extra-mathematical resources during problem solving. We further introduce and use problem-solving trajectories as a tool for visualising and analysing the complex and diverse approaches used by students in their attempts at reaching a solution. Overall, the extended MMC provides a finer-grained model of the cognitive and metacognitive activities that students engage in, offering further insights for research and practice.

The study of students' use of representations is one of the main topics of physics education research and is guided by the overarching field of semiotics. In this paper we compare two semiotic frameworks, one coming from didactics of mathematics and one from physics education research; "the theory of registers of semiotic representations" and "social semiotics," using the networking of theories methodology. A group of first year university students were audio and video recorded as they discussed concepts relating to thermal energy, a study that will be further explored in an upcoming paper. We find that analyzing the recorded data using two different semiotic perspectives provides a wider interpretation of students' representational use, a descriptive approach to how students use the representations, and an approach to the cognitive aspects of the construction of knowledge. By comparing the theoretical constructs they employ, and how they are employed in the analysis process, we identify constructs that both frameworks have in common, but also where they differ. We have found that each semiotic theory provides a different perspective regarding students' representational use. We also propose that comparing different theories may provide a space for complementing the constructs of each theory and providing a bigger picture to understand students' representational use in physics and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education areas.

This paper aims to investigate the reasons some female mathematicians give to justify their choice to not work in academia after finishing their doctoral studies. Nine female mathematicians who finished a PhD in Sweden answered a written questionnaire. Through collective narrative analysis, two main tracks were identified. One narrative described the struggle with self-identity in a gendered structure which included implicit power, while the other was more positive about exposure to discrimination, and highlighted the desire to work with applied mathematics. Through deductive thematic analysis, the results show that the main obstacle raised was the difficulty of getting a job in academia after their doctoral studies, especially permanent positions, without support. Compared to previous research, the lack of family-oriented political policies was not considered a main problem. Instead, the reasons provided by the respondents are structural problems, such as access to post-doc positions, and the stress of having to get research grants, as well as cultural aspects within the structure, including implicit and explicit use of power.

This paper relates to one of the test procedures being used in Sweden, used to establish if students need a more thorough investigation of their mathematical difficulties. This paper mainly describes the test process and the results from 10 test subjects. The paper also refers to parts of the research forming the basis for the test process. The paper shows how teachers in their everyday work can use the understanding researchers have of mathematical difficulties and the methods they have developed. The purpose is not to drive the research on mathematical difficulties.

In online learning research, the theoretical community of inquiry framework has been used extensively to analyze processes of inquiry among learners and instructors within a community. This paper examines a special case of community of inquiry consisting of only one learner and one instructor. Together they engage in an online coaching discourse to form a relationship of inquiry. Within these relationships, coachees pass through processes of practical inquiry process while a coach supports the process. In this study, a framework and coding scheme were developed for use in a transcript coding procedure including 3,109 messages from an online coaching case in math for K-12 students. It is found that the elements of cognitive, teaching, and social presence, as well as the newly proposed emotional presence, which outlines a community of inquiry, comprise an effective structure for the analysis of one-to-one online coaching environments. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that a relationship of inquiry framework has the potential to support development of one-to-one online learning.

One challenge for an optimal design of the mathematical components in engineering education curricula is to understand how the procedural and conceptual dimensions of mathematical work can be matched with different demands and contexts from the education and practice of engineers. The focus in this paper is on how engineering students respond to the conceptual-procedural distinction, comparing performance and confidence between second and fourth year groups of students in their answers to a questionnaire comprising conceptually and procedurally focused mathematics problems. We also compare these students' conceptions on the role of conceptual and procedural mathematics problems within and outside their mathematics studies. Our data suggest that when mathematical knowledge is being recontextualised to engineering subjects or engineering design, a conceptual approach to mathematics is more essential than a procedural approach; working within the mathematical domain, however, the procedural aspects of mathematics are as essential as the conceptual aspects.

A common problem in predictive validity studies in the educational and psychological fields, e.g. in educational and employment selection, is restriction in range of the predictor variables. There are several methods for correcting correlations for restriction of range. The aim of this paper was to examine the usefulness of two approaches to correcting for range restriction; Thorndike's case 2 correction and ML estimates obtained from the EM algorithm, by comparing the corrected correlations with the correlation from an unrestricted sample. The unrestricted sample consisted of examinees who took the practical Swedish driving-license test regardless of their result on the theory test. Examinees that passed the theory test and took the practical test were regarded as a restricted sample. The result provided empirical support for the appropriateness of Thorndike's case 2 correction method. Although using the EM algorithm yielded a good estimate of the correlation in the unrestricted sample, further studies are needed on this topic. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)

In the department of mathematics of the Lulea University of Technology in Sweden, a dynamic model for the education of doctoral students and guidance of supervisors in research groups has been developed and applied for several years now. Presently groups in mathematics as well as a group in mathematics education are working according to this model and treated in the same way. Moreover, both the students and the supervisors get some education and experience also in elements, which usually are not included in more traditional models for supervision in the mathematical sciences in Sweden. In this paper, we describe our model as well as some experiences of it. Moreover, the results of a questionnaire addressed to and answered by all doctoral students (both finished and still in the program) are presented, evaluated and compared with some related investigations in Sweden. We claim that the students in general are very satisfied to be supervised and guided in this way. In principle, there have been no cases of dropping out of the Ph.D. programs, students obtained their degrees within the stipulated time and the careers after the studies have been successful. We hope that this positive experience will stimulate other universities to test and evaluate our model (or relevant parts of it) under different conditions.

This paper aims to investigate the reasons some female mathematicians give to justify their choice to not work in academia after finishing their doctoral studies. Nine female mathematicians who finished a PhD in Sweden answered a written questionnaire. Through collective narrative analysis, two main tracks were identified. One narrative described the struggle with self-identity in a gendered structure which included implicit power, while the other was more positive about exposure to discrimination, and highlighted the desire to work with applied mathematics. Through deductive thematic analysis, the results show that the main obstacle raised was the difficulty of getting a job in academia after their doctoral studies, especially permanent positions, without support. Compared to previous research, the lack of family-oriented political policies was not considered a main problem. Instead, the reasons provided by the respondents are structural problems, such as access to post-doc positions, and the stress of having to get research grants, as well as cultural aspects within the structure, including implicit and explicit use of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by earlier research highlighting Swedish teachers' beliefs that the setting of homework compromises deep-seated principles of educational equity, this paper presents an exploratory study of Swedish parents' perspectives on homework in their year-one children's learning. Twenty-five parents, drawn from three demographically different schools in the Stockholm region, participated in semi-structured interviews. The interviews, broadly focused on how parents support their children's learning and including questions about homework in general and mathematics homework in particular, were transcribed and data subjected to a constant comparison analytical process. This yielded four broad themes, highlighting considerable variation in how parents perceive the relationship between homework and educational equity. First, all parents spoke appreciatively of their children receiving reading homework and, in so doing, indicated a collective construal that reading homework is neither homework nor a threat to equity. Second, four parents, despite their enthusiasm for reading homework, opposed the setting of any homework due to its potential compromise of family life. Third, seven parents indicated that they would appreciate mathematics homework where it were not a threat to equity. Finally, fourteen parents, despite acknowledging homework's potential compromise to equity, were unequivocally in favour of mathematics homework being set to their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interventions aimed at improving school performance for children in foster care are few and are generally not implemented. By preventing failure in school, the prospect of reducing the risk for future poor health, substance abuse, unemployment, and other detrimental social conditions are met. This paper focuses on the change of preconditions for compulsory school performance in out-of-home care children, following an intervention called "Skolfam" that aims to improve school performance by individual assessments and school-based interventions. In this study, data were compiled from prospective repeated tests of 475 children in foster care in Sweden. Educational preconditions were analysed for compulsory school performance, such as intelligence (WISC-IV), psychosocial (SDQ) and adaptive behavior (ABAS-II), literacy (Reading Chains) and mathematical skills (Magne Mathematic Diagnoses) before and after the first 2 years of the "Skolfam" intervention. All tests were age-standardized and performed by experienced professionals. The results showed improved skills in complex aspects of literacy, mathematics, and cognitive performance, but no improvement in less complex literacy skills, adaptive behavior or mental health symptoms. In conclusion, higher-order cognitive functions can develop positively when appropriate school support is provided. Affective function, adaptive behavior, and psychosocial well-being present a more pervasive challenge for children in foster care. Implications for future research, practice in social services, and school is that further development of methods to aid future prospects for children in out-of-home care should aim to improve both cognitive higher-order executive-, and affective functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a group interview study of Swedish upper secondary students' perspectives on the typical mathematics lesson. Students, from four demographically different schools, constructed a collective synthesis of their many years' experience of mathematics classrooms. Transcriptions were subjected to a constant comparison analysis, which yielded a consistent lesson structure. This comprised a period, known as a genomgång, during which teachers 'go through' something, followed by periods of individual work from the book. While there was some variation in the manifestation of both elements of the lesson, students were remarkably consistent in their summary of the typical lesson structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though the central role of Gösta Mittag-Leffler in the promotion of specialized, research-oriented mathematics at Stockholms Högskola is widely acknowledged, the specific social and technical means by which he sought to cultivate a fledgling research community there during the early- to mid-1880s have received little attention. In particular, a detailed study of the relationship of his own research activity to that of his first Swedish students is absent from the existing literature. Through the juxtaposition of their research activities and unpublished correspondence, this paper explores Mittag-Leffler's active and deliberate efforts to engage his students Ivar Bendixson and Edvard Phragmén in open problems within his own research agenda, support them through his institutional connections, and instill within them norms concerning research ideologies, practices of communication and criticism, and frameworks for shared knowledge. It also illuminates the extent to which his teachings took root in at least one student to emerge from his program, who would perpetuate the mathematical practices set in place by his teacher and set forth on the international stage to promote his newly-acquired system of values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Swedish early years mathematics education is currently under discussion, as it is experiencing transformation on several levels. A few years ago PISA results showed that Sweden ranks below certain highly developed countries. The importance of mathematics has consequently become a prevailing discourse, with the aim of safeguarding a top ranking for Sweden. At the same time, increased population mobility towards Sweden over past decades has resulted in the contemporary school setting being characterised by cultural and linguistic diversity. Based on a series of interviews and observations, this paper analyses how preschool teachers tend to fabricate mathematics education and the desired child in a context where conflicting discourses of school mathematics and early childhood education circulate. This study also explores whether certain children run the risk of being excluded as "other". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports selected findings from a study of number sense proficiency of students aged 8 to 14 years in Australia, Sweden, United States, and Taiwan. It comments on the meaning and importance of number sense, the development of the assessment instruments, and student responses to the items. Some implications for classrooms of the findings are then discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "two-sex problem" is one of attempting to preserve the essential character of male and female rates of marriage (or birth), since the expression of those rates is influenced both by the age-sex composition of the population and the underlying age-sex schedule of preferences. The present paper focuses on marriage and advances a theoretically based, realistic, and conceptually simple solution. In the continuous case, where exact male and female ages are used, equation (11) provides a mathematical relationship which equates the sum of the male and female marriage propensities of the observed population with that of the model. When discrete age intervals are used, the two-sex consistency condition is given by equation (14) which equates observed and model population rates calculated using the harmonic means of the number of persons in the relevant male and female age groups. The harmonic mean consistency condition is shown to be fully sensitive to the competitive nature of the "marriage market." When compared with alternative approaches to the two-sex problem in the context of data for Sweden, 1961-64, the simple harmonic mean method yields results fairly similar to those of the other methods. None of the two-sex methods do particularly well at predicting the actual distribution of marriages, however. The likely reason is that the underlying marriage preferences changed, a circumstance which emphasizes the importance of carefully conceptualizing how observed behavior can be decomposed into the effects produced by age-sex composition and those produced by the underlying preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The objective of the present study was to evaluate effectiveness, complications and cost-effectiveness of any surgical or non-surgical treatment for radius or ulna fractures in elderly patients. Secondary objectives were to analyze present treatment traditions of distal radius fractures (DRF) in Sweden and to calculate resource usage for its treatment. Methods and findings: The assessment contains a systematic review of clinical and health economic studies comparing treatment options for radius or ulna fractures. The results regarding the effectiveness of the treatments are summarized in meta-analyses. In addition, the assessment contains a cost analysis for different treatment options commonly used for DRF care, and an analysis of registry data on the incidence and treatment of DRF. In total 31 randomized controlled trials were included in meta-analyses. When comparing functional outcome for plate fixation versus non-surgical treatment for DRF, there were no clinically important differences at one-year follow-up (mean difference [MD], -3.29, 95% CI, -7.03; 0.44). Similar results were found when comparing plating and percutaneous methods with respect to functional outcome (standardized mean difference [SMD], -0.07, 95% CI, -0.21; 0.07) and grip strength (MD, -3.47, 95% CI, -11.21; 4.28). There were no differences for minor complications, (risk difference [RD], -0.01, 95% CI, -0.07; 0.05) whereas major complications were less common for the percutaneous group, (RD, 0.02, 95% CI, 0.02; 0.03). Given the low number of studies, the evidence above was rated as moderate certainty. The cost for plate fixation versus plaster cast was estimated to 1698 compared to 137 US dollars. For DRF, plate fixation increased in Sweden between 2005 and 2013, and was the most common surgical method in 2013. Conclusions: Surgical treatment of moderately displaced distal radius fractures in elderly patients offers no clear benefit compared to non-surgical treatment. Plating procedures have become more common during the second millennium and involve higher costs and higher risk of major complications than percutaneous options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to estimate the duration-distance relation in cycle commuting in the general population since this enables analyses of the potential for various public health outcomes. Therefore, the aim is to estimate this relation in the Swedish adult population of 2015. For that purpose, the first step was to establishit for adult male and female cycle commuters in Greater Stockholm, Sweden. Whether or not the slopes of these relations needed to be altered in order to make them representative of the general population was evaluated by comparing the levels of maximal oxygen uptake in samples of commuter cyclists and the population. The measure used was the maximal oxygen uptake divided by both the body weight and a cycle weight of 18.5 kg. The body weights in the population samples were adjusted to mirror relevant levels in 2015. Age adjustments for the duration–distance relations were calculated on the basis of the maximal oxygen uptake in the population samples aged 20–65 years. The duration-distance relations of the cycle commuters were downscaled by about 24–28% to mirror levels in the general population. The empirical formula for the distance (D, km) was based on duration (T, minutes) · speed (km/min) · a correction factor from cycle commuter to the general population · age adjustment (A, years). For the males in the general population the formula was: D = T · 20.76 km/h · 0.719 · (1.676–0.0147 · A). For females, the formula was: D = T · 16.14 km/h · 0.763 · (1.604–0.0129 · A). These formulas, combined with distributions of route distances between home and work in the population, enable realistic evaluations of the potential for different public health outcomes through cycle commuting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and organochlorines (OCs) are ubiquitous and persistent in the environment and proposed endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). They can be transferred across the placenta during pregnancy, and studies suggest that the prenatal period may be particularly sensitive for influences on fetal growth and development. Several studies have investigated socio-demographic and pregnancy related factors associated with maternal serum PFAS and OC levels, but few studies have been conducted in time periods with increasing emissions of PFASs and recent emissions of OCs. Methods: Serum from 424 pregnant women participating in the NICHD Scandinavian Successive Small-for-gestational Age (SGA) births study was collected in 1986–1988, and analyses of two PFASs and six OCs were conducted. Associations between EDCs and geographic, time dependent, socio-demographic and pregnancy related variables were evaluated by using multivariable linear regression models. Results: Previous breastfeeding duration, time since last breastfeeding period, sampling date and country of residence were important factors associated with serum levels of PFOS and PFOA. Smoking status and pre-pregnancy BMI were negatively associated with PFOS, and maternal height was borderline negatively associated with PFOS and PFOA. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was negatively associated with PFOS in a sub-sample. Maternal serum levels of OCs were positively associated with maternal age, and negatively associated with previous breastfeeding duration and sampling date. Smoking had a consistently negative association with PCB 118 in a dose-dependent manner. Education level, pre-pregnancy BMI and alcohol consumption varied in importance according to the compound under study. Conclusions: Several maternal factors, including potentially modifiable factors, markers of pregnancy physiology and factors also related to perinatal outcomes were associated with EDC levels. Results from this study are relevant to populations with still high PFAS and OC levels, i.e. developing countries. Moreover, we can use this knowledge about associated factors on emerging EDCs with similar properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In 2006, a study investigating knowledge and attitudes regarding antibiotic use and resistance in Sweden, indicated high level of knowledge but also areas in need of improvement. Objective: (i) To provide an update on the knowledge and attitudes to antibiotic use and resistance of the Swedish population, and (ii) to identify which groups within the population are in particular need of improved knowledge or attitudes. Methods: A questionnaire was sent by post in 2013 to 2,500 randomly-selected individuals aged 18–74, living in Sweden. Latent class analyses were conducted to group respondents based on their responses. The association between socio-demographic characteristics and the probability of belonging to each latent class was assessed. Results: The response rate was 57%. Ninety-four per cent of the responders knew that bacteria could become resistant to antibiotics and the majority answered correctly to the questions regarding antibiotic resistance development. The respondents expressed confidence in doctors who decided not to prescribe antibiotics. Three latent classes related to ‘knowledge regarding antibiotic use and resistance’, two regarding ‘attitudes towards antibiotic accessibility and infection prevention’ and three regarding ‘attitudes towards antibiotic use and effects’ were revealed. Men, younger and more educated people were more knowledgeable but males had a less restrictive attitude. Respondents with high levels of knowledge on antibiotics were more likely to have appropriate restrictive attitudes to antibiotics. Conclusion: Knowledge on antibiotic use and resistance is maintained high and has improved in Sweden compared to 2006. People with lower education and elderly are especially in need of improved knowledge about antibiotic use and resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: An increase in narcolepsy cases was observed in Finland and Sweden towards the end of the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Preliminary observational studies suggested a temporal link with the pandemic influenza vaccine Pandemrix™, leading to a number of additional studies across Europe. Given the public health urgency, these studies used readily available retrospective data from various sources. The potential for bias in such settings was generally acknowledged. Although generally advocated by key opinion leaders and international health authorities, no systematic quantitative assessment of the potential joint impact of biases was undertaken in any of these studies. Methods: We applied bias-level multiple-bias analyses to two of the published narcolepsy studies: a pediatric cohort study from Finland and a case-control study from France. In particular, we developed Monte Carlo simulation models to evaluate a potential cascade of biases, including confounding by age, by indication and by natural H1N1 infection, selection bias, disease- and exposure misclassification. All bias parameters were evidence-based to the extent possible. Results: Given the assumptions used for confounding, selection bias and misclassification, the Finnish rate ratio of 13.78 (95% CI: 5.72–28.11) reduced to a median value of 6.06 (2.5th- 97.5th percentile: 2.49–15.1) and the French odds ratio of 5.43 (95% CI: 2.6–10.08) to 1.85 (2.5th—97.5th percentile: 0.85–4.08). Conclusion: We illustrate multiple-bias analyses using two studies on the Pandemrix™-narcolepsy association and advocate their use to better understand the robustness of study findings. Based on our multiple-bias models, the observed Pandemrix™-narcolepsy association consistently persists in the Finnish study. For the French study, the results of our multiple-bias models were inconclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a Guest Editorial, Kazem Rahimi, Carolyn Lam, and Steven Steinhubl call for interdisciplinary research and personalized cardiovascular care to better manage patients with cardiovascular disease and multimorbidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines if interdisciplinary teaching can be said to facilitate the learning and use of fractions by Swedish 12-year-old pupils. Home and Consumer Studies is well suited to interdisciplinary teaching, and young people can therefore find it interesting to study maths since the setting is relevant to them. Building on variation theory and a learning study, we examined pupils' (n18) ability to double fractions greater than 1/2 when using a recipe. The general results show that what is to be learned benefits if it is presented in different ways, that teachers should not take pupils' knowledge for granted, and mathematically that it is not necessary to divide something to be able to double it. We argue that the study shows that genuine problems based on pupils' interest and life world can enhance motivation and, in turn, learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we compare cooperation among Colombian and Swedish children aged 9–12. We illustrate the dynamics of the prisoner's dilemma in a new task that is easily understood by children and performed during a physical education class. We find no robust evidence of a difference in cooperation between Colombia and Sweden overall. However, Colombian girls cooperate less than Swedish girls. We also find indications that girls in Colombia are less cooperative than boys. Finally, there is also a tendency for children to be more cooperative with boys than with girls on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoporosis is characterized by reduced bone mineral density (BMD) and increased fracture risk. Fat mass is a determinant of bone strength and both phenotypes have a strong genetic component. In this study, we examined the association between obesity associated polymorphisms (SNPs) with body composition, BMD, Ultrasound (QUS), fracture and biomarkers (Homocysteine (Hcy), folate, Vitamin D and Vitamin B12) for obesity and osteoporosis. Five common variants: rs17782313 and rs1770633 (melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R); rs7566605 (insulin induced gene 2 (INSIG2); rs9939609 and rs1121980 (fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) were genotyped in 2 cohorts of Swedish women: PEAK-25 (age 25, n = 1061) and OPRA (age 75, n = 1044). Body mass index (BMI), total body fat and lean mass were strongly positively correlated with QUS and BMD in both cohorts (r2 = 0.2–0.6). MC4R rs17782313 was associated with QUS in the OPRA cohort and individuals with the minor C-allele had higher values compared to T-allele homozygotes (TT vs. CT vs. CC: BUA: 100 vs. 103 vs. 103; p = 0.002); (SOS: 1521 vs. 1526 vs. 1524; p = 0.008); (Stiffness index: 69 vs. 73 vs. 74; p = 0.0006) after adjustment for confounders. They also had low folate (18 vs. 17 vs. 16; p = 0.03) and vitamin D (93 vs. 91 vs. 90; p = 0.03) and high Hcy levels (13.7 vs 14.4 vs. 14.5; p = 0.06). Fracture incidence was lower among women with the C-allele, (52% vs. 58%; p = 0.067). Variation in MC4R was not associated with BMD or body composition in either OPRA or PEAK-25. SNPs close to FTO and INSIG2 were not associated with any bone phenotypes in either cohort and FTO SNPs were only associated with body composition in PEAK-25 (p≤0.001). Our results suggest that genetic variation close to MC4R is associated with quantitative ultrasound and risk of fracture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To evaluate the pattern of co-infection of human papillomavirus (HPV) types in both sexes in Sweden. Methods: Cell samples from genital swabs, first-void urine, and genital swabs immersed in first-void urine were collected in the present cross-sectional High Throughput HPV Monitoring study. Overall, 31,717 samples from women and 9,949 from men (mean age 25) were tested for 16 HPV types using mass spectrometry. Multilevel logistic regression was used to estimate the expected number of multiple infections with specific HPV types, adjusted for age, type of sample, and accounting for correlations between HPV types due to unobserved risk factors using sample-level random effects. Bonferroni correction was used to allow for multiple comparisons (120). Results: Observed-to-expected ratio for any multiple infections was slightly above unity in both sexes, but, for most 2-type combinations, there was no evidence of significant departure from expected numbers. HPV6/18 was found more often and HPV51/68 and 6/68 less often than expected. However, HPV68 tended to be generally underrepresented in co-infections, suggesting a sub-optimal performance of our testing method for this HPV type. Conclusions: We found no evidence for positive or negative clustering between HPV types included in the current prophylactic vaccines and other untargeted oncogenic types, in either sex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Moderate to severe psoriasis, once regarded as merely a skin disease, is today seen as an inflammatory systemic disease. The sex ratio of the prevalence of psoriasis is balanced. In recent years several reports have documented that men receive more systemic or UV treatment than women, and different hypotheses were made. In PsoReg, the national registry for systemic treatment of psoriasis in Sweden, we have, like other European registries, observed a predominance of men (59%), especially of men treated with biologics (63%). Biologics are a relatively new group of very effective but high-priced drugs. The objective of this study was to analyse if women are discriminated by not having the same access to the high-priced biologics. Design: Population based cohort study using data from a nationwide quality register of psoriasis patients. Population: 2294 patients with moderate to severe psoriasis receiving systemic treatment from a specialist in dermatology. Main Outcome Measures: Time to initiation of biologic treatment. A multiple Cox proportional hazard’s regression was performed, with time to initiating a biologic treatment as the outcome in order to assess the independent role of the patient’s sex in initiating such therapy. The psoriasis severity was defined as a time-varying variable. Results: Men had more severe psoriasis than women according to the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI), regardless of age at enrolment, and throughout the study period. The analysis in the multiple Cox regression show that age, psoriasis severity and psoriasis arthropathy were relevant factors for initiating biologic therapy, whereas sex is not. Conclusions: Although as many women as men are believed to suffer from psoriasis, men seem to be more severely affected by psoriasis. The asymmetry in allocation of biologic therapy thereby probably reflects the differing disease activity between the sexes, and is not a discrimination against women per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children of foreign origin are increasingly failing in mathematics in Swedish compulsory schools. This article analyses the didactics at a school proven very successful in teaching mathematics to all children including the 70 % of children of foreign origin. The situation at the studied school is compared to research of the Swedish school system through the concepts creation of meaning, intercultural leadership and linguistic approach. The environment at the school is signified by: 1) a linguistic approach to mathematics 2) interplay in classrooms of mathematics between visual and practical materials and problem solving rarely focusing on textbooks 3) a learning and problem solving organization where "Swedishness" (that is to say the Swedish way) is not the norm by which students are judged, including a positive approach to multilingualism 4) high expectations towards pupils and 5) teachers and the school leadership holding an inclusive approach to pupils who need support in learning compulsory school mathematics. Supplementary teacher training has proven to be one factor of great importance in classrooms of mathematics. The studied school shows signs of being a learning organization where one teacher takes on the part of a knowledge activist - provoking new ways of thinking (Jacobssen & Thorsvik 2008). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that Lennart Carleson of Sweden's Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden is recipient of the $920,000 Abel Prize in mathematics from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Carleson, 78 is best known for a 1966 paper proving a long-standing conjecture about the Fourier series, a mathematical tool used to analyze oscillatory phenomena from pulsars to sound waves to atomic vibrations. In 1991, Carleson and colleague Michael Benedicks gave a rigorous proof that a dynamical system known as the Henon map possesses a signature of chaos known as a strange attractor.

We use prenatal exposure to Chernobyl fallout in Sweden as a natural experiment inducing variation in cognitive ability. Students born in regions of Sweden with higher fallout performed worse in secondary school, in mathematics in particular. Damage is accentuated within families (i.e., siblings comparison) and among children born to parents with low education. In contrast, we detect no corresponding damage to health outcomes. To the extent that parents responded to the cognitive endowment, we infer that parental investments reinforced the initial Chernobyl damage. From a public health perspective, our findings suggest that cognitive ability is compromised at radiation doses currently considered harmless. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this multiple-case study was to find out how the most successful team of the 1971 Mathematical Olympiad in Hungary developed professionally. It is impressive that in 1971, no fewer than four participants on the Hungarian team received gold medals and four participants received silver medals. Seven of the eight analyzed participants on the team came from a grammar school in Budapest. Three of the four gold medal winners achieved remarkable academic positions. On average, professional positions were achieved (as scored by the magnitude prestige scale) well above the average for a normal grammar school sample. Interestingly, the calculated average of the Hungarian team (156.5 ± 15.5) was slightly higher than that of the comparison team from Sweden (142.8 ± 30.5), but this difference was not significant (p = 0.351). In principle, excellence seems to result in excellence. For several former participants on the Hungarian team, it was shown that they continued to be extremely successful in the field of mathematics, with a thematic focus in the field of statistics and probability calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]